Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	wonder_n	world_n	worldling_n	25	3	11.2949	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00414	A methode vnto mortification: called heretofore, the contempt of the world, and the vanitie thereof Written at the first in the Spanish, afterward translated into the Italian, English, and Latine tongues: now last of all perused at the request of some of his godly friends, and as may bee most for the benefite of this Church, reformed and published by Thomas Rogers. Allowed by authoritie.; Vanidad del mundo. English	Estella, Diego de, 1524-1578.; Rogers, Thomas, d. 1616.	1608 (1608)	STC 10543; ESTC S114515	174,792	500

what answere hee may make for hims●fe though hee be not made to answere for the soules of other men I● then thou shalt bee so busied that hardly thou shalt vnwinde thy selfe from the sentence of cōdemnation in respect of the sins committed by thy selfe then much more hardly shalt thou escape the same hauing taken vpon thee to answere for the consciences of other men It must needes therefore bee a vaine thinge after this manner to bring thy saluation into so great a danger It is vanitie to couet supereminence ouer others in this place of banishment God for his parte wil more loue thee if thou bee a good man and good men for their parte will more esteeme thee being a godlie subiect than a proud prelate I graunt indeede thou shalt not bee feared being not preferd but thou shalt be loued which is the better of the twaine Doe away therefore thy inordinate affections and keeep thine hart from vanitie Loue humilitie as the seruant of Iesus Christ and cast from thy mind the desire of honor For at the houre of death it will not helpe a whit but rather hurt thee CHAP. 14. This world is not our natiue countrey but a place of banishement WHile wee are at home in the body wee are absent from the Lord againe Here wee haue no continuing cittie but wē seek one to come saith the Apostle There is no iourney taken without labour There is no pleasure to bee sought for in this world wherin wee do but soiorne Couet not to build much or to abide in the world seeing thou hast a father in heauen so rich and mightie but hold on a right course towarde that land where all manner of felicitie doth abound S. Peter saith I beseech you as strangers Pilgrims abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule It is the manner of Pilgrims to leade an hard life They are alwaies like for rainers their true friends are in an other countrey Procure not that friendship which is hurtfu●l to thy soule neither take it greeuously though al thinges fal not out according to thy desire For thou art but a traueler in this present world which if thou wouldest beare in minde much dangers thou couldest not but auoide Make speed therefore away like a post neither purpose thou to staie in this miserable world He that betaketh himselfe to an Inne there to tarry onely for halfe an houre bedecketh not the house for so short a time for then would hee be counted an egregious foole Thou art a Pilgrim vpon earth yester-day thou camest and to morow thou shalt depart Care not therefore for these honors riches or vanities of this world but let thy whole minde be touching the lande of the liuing where the Sainctes with Christ doe euerlastingly triumph haue in minde the lande of the heauenly father but sette not thine heart vpon this place of banishment It is a wonder how thou canst promise to thy selfe in this worlde any stability at all seeing this life is so short and the houre of death so vncertaine that thou knowest not whether thou shalt liue till to morrow or not Thinke how the troubles of this world are of small continuance and very shortly thou must goe vnto heauen where thou shalt rest for euermore Wouldest thou beare in minde that the life which we do looke for shall continue yea is euerlastinge surely thou wouldest thinke this life though it were to last a thousande yeares in comparison of that to come scarce halfe an houre in length Yea al our life compared to that is but a moment This moued Th'apostle patientlie to beare the troubles of his pilgrimage as himselfe writing vnto the Corinthians doth say on this wise Our affliction which is but for a momēt causeth to vs a farre mooe excellent eternal waight of glory while we looke not on the thinges which are seene but on the thinges which are not seene for the things which are seen artēporal but the things which are not seene are eternal Thus did th'apostle meditate of heauē waying with himselfe the shortnes of this liefe If thou be a stranger in this world maruel not though thou be vnknown to men if the labour of this life trouble thee be not disquieted in thy selfe for shortly thy iourney shall haue an ende The fathers in the olde Testament confessed they were strangers pilgrims on the earth and wandred in wildernesses and mountaines and dens and caues of the earth and neuer found rest Neuer be of mind that thou must inhabite this earth Kain was the first that we read of which built a city vpearth lost he not heauen Neither was Saint Peter rebuked without cause who being a stranger would yet haue an house builded vpon moū Thaber as if he had been to inhabite therevpon They which trauel like pilgrimes vse not to buie fruite trees and such like thinges as are too heauie for them to beare but such thinges as are of light carring but yet of greate price as precious stones and other iewels In like sort forsake thou the honors and riches of this life and ●arrie about thee the precious iewels ●f an vnspoted conscience Why then heapest thou promotion ●pon promotiō so fast which of neces●●tie thou must leaue behind thee Why wouldest thou be loaden with ●●ches in the race of this life Rather ●eeke for the inestimable iewels of good workes that thou maiest liue in perpetuall riches and honor in the heauens CHAP. 15 Beautie is a vaine thing FAuour is deceitfull and beautie is vanitie saith Salomon If no vanitie is to be accounted of any thing at al and beautie is a vaine thing surely beauty is nothing to be accounted of Then most vaine are they which haue in great price the vaine beautie of the body Let not thy beautie puffe thee vp neither cast an eye vnto the shadowe of thy countenance least thou fall into destruction and loose thy life as Nareissus did who beholding his beuty lost his life Absolons goodly lockes of haire were the haltars to hang himselfe withall Beuty is giuen vnto mā to th' ende he should lift vp his mind vnto God the giuer of the same When thou findest a litle vaine of water thou followest the same till thou come vnto the spring from whence it flowed first Euen so when thou meetest with a beutifull body leaue not vntil thou come vnto the author of the same which is God himselfe the fountaine of al beuty Litle children thou knowest doe wonder at the gay letters pictures which are in bookes but the substāce which is the learning comprised therein they regard no whit Shewe thy self not a childe but a man of wisedome gaze not so curiously vpon the external beuty of any creature but marke diligently what is written therein to the end thou maist loue the author and creator of such fairnesse Creatures be spectacles as it were which serue vs

if nothing they further vnto vertue but hinder much why so impatiently dost thou couet them Art thou so blinde that thou seest not how embracing riches thou nourishest a serpent or scorpion in thy bosome For as the scorpion will kill them with poyson which cherished them with their heate so these riches which with the heate of in ordinate desire thou doest nourish and augment they will eate thy bowels gnaw thy conscience choke the good spirit hinder thee from saluation aud bring thee to destruction both of body and soule This is that thou louest O thou blind man this is that thou seekest this is that lastly that destroieth Call thy wits together a little and behold the falsehood of these riches so shalt thou lift vp thy mind not onely vnto the liking but also vnto the louing of thinges far much greater and euery way more true CHAP. 21. To loue riches and earthly thinges it is meere vanitie LOue not the world nor the thinges in the world saith S. Iohn By the light of nature wee are taught not to loue these natural thinges in regarde of themselues For loue is a thinge so pretious that it should bee bestowed onely vppon him who can with like affection of loue answere the good wil. But seeing no creature natural can with like measure recompenc thy loue therfore thou oughtest not to applie thine heart to the thinges of this world Doubtlesse couldest thou percei● thus much in desiring to enioy the thinges which be ordained onely for thy vse thou doest peruert the order of God God alone thou must enioy by louing him as the soueraigne good thing from the bottome of thy heart but vse thou must the things of the world as seruants referring the loue of them vnto God and to the setting out of his glory God created man after his owne likenes to the end that as other liuing creatures do he should loue his like Seeing therfore thou hast no likenes with earthly thinges thou art bound of equity to loue not these earthly thinges but God after whose similitude thou art made All the while that Iacob had children by Leah and her handmaide he neuer thought of returning into his countrey but so soone as Rahel had borne him a sonne he had a longing forthwith to returne home againe So the men of this world while they are occupied about earthly thinges they are forgetfull of the Celestial countrey but when they once bring out the fruite of Godlines then begin they to loath their former state and greatly to desire the happinesse of heauen When the king of the Egyptians was dead the children of Israel sighed for their bondage and cried God heard their mone but afore his death though they cried bitterly yet were they not heard Both good and badde al crie vnto God but none be heard saue they which haue killed the kinge of Egipt that is the loue of this world which worldlinges haue not Let the loue therefore of the worlde once be dead and God wil heare thy praier out of hand It is the lawe of vnfained loue that you doe shewe your selfe to bee such as that is which you loue Our soule is like vnto waxe which taketh the forme of that which is imprinted thereupon As that is which you loue such is thy soule earthly or heauenly If thou puttest a glasse toward heauen thou shalt see the figure of heauen there-vpon if thou turne it to the earth warde there shalt thou beholde the figure of earth So thy soule is like vnto that whereunto thou appliest the same insomuch that whatsoeuer goodnes or badnes is in thee thou maiest ascribe the same to that thing which thou so leuest Nebuchad-nezzer louing the world became a beast and did eate grasse like an oxe but lifting vp his eies vnto heauen by true repentance hee came againe vnto his former shape When God had made the Sunne the Moone and all other creatures hee saide of them all that they were very good for such did approue them but man being created he was neither said to be good nor ill not thereby preferring other creatures aboue man for whose sake they were all created Why then said God of all other creatures how they were good and said not so of man who was better then they The reason is because God he looked that man according to his freewil should worke and as he made his choise so should his titles be good or euil When hee loued the good he was good but when he loued the euill he was ill For man onely of all creatures had free libertie to chuse either good or ill The holy Apostle speakinge of certaine wicked men saide They turned the glory of th'incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birdes foure footed beastes and of creeping thinges As they made God such were they themselues the images ●●ey made of God were not so vnlike him as they resembled their images which they made The proper seate of the soule is in heauen where they onely do inhabite which be perfect men as the apostle doth say Our conuersation is in heauen Loue not riches and thou shalt be rich It is great riches not to couet riches Who possesseth much Euen hee that desireth little God gaue in commaundement that no man to his proper vse should take any parte of the rich spoiles of Iericho which in respecte of the mutabilitie thereof representeth the worlde the treasures whereof should not bee desired of Christians least they com vnto that destruction which Adam did CHAP. 13. The rices of this worlde are to be contemned WHosoeuer renounceth not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple saith our Sauiour Christ Despise from thy hart these transitory things They which followed Christ frosooke so much riches as they could desire which followed him not And so infinite is our will in coueting that he shall neuer be satisfied which foloweth the same and he which renounceth it renounceth al thinges Insomuch that poore S. Peter left as much indeede as ambitious Alexander could in heart desire These thinges if thou contemne thou shalt find thy selfe but if thou doe them loue thou dost for-doe thy selfe Happy is that soule which earnestly despiseth these transitory thinges which the couetous minde so greedily desireth For by contemning thinges corruptible the riches which are eternal be attained Golde and siluer are to loade a beast not a man Yet no beast is so voide of vnderstanding that will●ngly will take more than it can beare Onely the couetous man as more voide of reason than a beast will offer himselfe to beare it lay on him what or how long soeuer yee will But if thou be wise thou wilt vnburden thy selfe by renoūcing the vaine riches of this world so assure thy selfe thou shalt goe the lighter A fond man thou art that may haue poore men in ough to beare

knew him not meaning Iesus Christ. And no maruell hauing their eyes so full of earth They haue wandred as blinde men in the stre●tes sayeth the prophet Ieremiah of worldly minded men which are so blinde that they suffer themselues to bee led about euen of the blinde vnto the example of wickednes They which are bodily blinde in deed they know yet that they are blinde but none are so wretchedly blind as the men of this world while they haue them in derision which vse the sight of their eyes The Lord said vnto the sinnefull Pharisies Now ye say we s●e therefore your sinne remaineth and being so blind that they thinke all others blind sauing themselues and such as they be therefore their impietie is the greater as was that of the seuenty Ancients of whom Ezechiel speaketh from the mouth of the Lord Beware therefore of such a blindenesse that thou fall into absurde and intollerable errors to the dishonour of God CHAP. 18 Great is the sorrow which worldlings doe feele when they must eyther leaue this world or go vnto hell torments THE labour of the foolish doth wearie him sayeth Salomon When death once approacheth then will it grieue a worldling to leaue this world for no man can leaue that hee loueth without much griefe That which the world loueth it getteth with great labour it keepeth with great feare it leaueth with great sorrow In the Reuelation it is written that They shall haue no rest day nor night which worship the beast and his image no more shall they that worship their beastly appetites and affections Terrible will that houre be when the body of a worldly man brought vp deliciously shal be separated from the soule to bee deuoured speedilie afterwarde of wormes It will be a greiuous thing for the riche man to depart from his riches and estimation in the worlde which so inordinately he loued The horses of great men goe trapped richly all the daie with manie seruing men attending vpon them but when they come vnto the stable at night or to the ende of their iourney all their glorious furniture is taken from them and nothing there continueth with them but spurgals bruzes and wearinesse In like sort the rich and great men of the world they are woondered at so longe as they are iourneying in this life but when they come vnto their graue euen the end of their iourney their glorie leaueth them and nothing els do they beare awaie but woundes vices and wickednesse Kinges and Princes also are not like to carrie awaie their go●de or their siluer from hence but onely the faultes which they haue committed while they were of auctoritie Consider therefore how irksome it will be for a worldly minded man to leaue this life which he loueth world which is so forgetful and vnthankeful Vnlesse thou iudge of the worlde as it is thou art not meet for to meete Christ. Therfore our Sauiour he calleth such vnto him not as thinke the yoake of this world to bee sweet but which deeme it greeuous and burdensome The world vseth to giue after a short pleasure euerlasting torments but God for a little paines for his sake giueth ioyes that shall haue no end Marie Magdalene that holy woman she in her troubles resorted vnto Christ in the house of the Pharisei obtained remission of her sinnes but desperate Iudas in troubles flying vnto the comfort of the worlde did hang himselfe and so ●el hee head-long into hel insomuch that she truly repenting shewed her selfe wise but he despairing of Gods mercy proued extreemely foolish Is it not better then to serue God and so to enioy eternall blisse than to serue this corruptible worlde and after to be tormented for euer with the Deuil and his Angels Surely it is better in this life to want a little short pleasure than with the same to be tumbled hedlong into hel better is it to liue obediently according to the lawe of God than wickedly to serue the worlde which by certaine coloured things which it calleth good snarleth and seeketh thine vtter ouerthrowe At that same rigorous passage of thine out of this world by death whē al thinges wherein thou puttest thy trust shal see ●e in thine ●ies to bee but dirt and dung how then wil thy former folly thinkest thou grieue thee at thine heart Marke I pray you what a notable reward the world the Diuel and the flesh do promise vnto you euen such a reward as if thou haue it thou canst not haue the reward of heauen What shalt thou reape of the flesh but corrupti●● as S. Paul doth say What shalt thou receiue of the deuil but intolerable torm●̄tes What of the world but speedy forgetfulnesse They promise largely these tyrantes but they performe slowly No man did euer yet serue the worlde but he was sorry for so doing at one time or other It would continually be serued and yet for all the seruice done it maketh his seruants either for hunger to starue or else with strips to be thrust naked out of doors In a word looke for no recompence of the world besides griefe and anguish of heart No man that wise is will enter into seruice with an other man except first he doe knowe what wages hee shall haue for his paines but with these tyrantes whom I haue named no couenant is to bee entered into because they will promise much and performe nothing that good is But if thou wilt serue Christ though thou suffer troubles yet in the midst of them thou shalt bee sure to finde consolation both inwarde and aeternall Man that is borne of a woman is but of short continuance The paines of good men are quickly gon but the sorrowes of the wicked shall euermore endure Better were it for thee by obedience to go into the fire of affliction than after thy pleasures of the worlde to bee damned for euer Let not thy laboures dismay thee which haue an ende with thy life but feare those troubles which when thy life hath an ende do beg●n●e and shall neuer come to an ende From those paines neither friendes shal deliuer neither riches nor any friendship of man shal saue thee The world it shal haue an ende but God and his seruantes shall endure for euer Trust not in the world for it plaieth the hangman with thee which first conducteth thee by the faire greene way of his false consolations and after with all possible speede thrusteth thee downe to hel Doe you not see what a good recompēce you receaue for al your seruice CHAP. 6 Soone are they forgotten and ouerthrowe which giue themselues to serue the world I Haue seene the wicked strong and spreding himselfe like a baie tree yet he passed away and loe he was gone and I sought him but he could not be found The worlde doth highly now and thē aduaunce them which serue it but they haue no sooner